Are you with me?

Partners and relationships have never been more important. What advice do brokers have for building and maintaining relationships with partners, vendors and peers, and what are some potential pitfalls? 

Less collecting, more cultivating

George Bernard Shaw said that the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. I would expand this to include relationship-building. Fishing for prospects with tone-deaf, cut-and-paste sales messages doesn’t create any real connection. Neither does collecting stacks of business cards, repeating the same tired 30-second elevator pitch, or putting someone on your email list.

Related: No one’s selling anything with these sales pitches

Instead, find the people you are most aligned with. That alignment could be based on shared values, shared goals, similar products or services, or similar client profiles. Commit to understanding their businesses and learning what they need to become more successful. Nurture those relationships by staying in regular contact and being genuinely engaged and willing to help. A handful of relationships that are built on a go-giver approach will create win-win opportunities and be personally fulfilling.

In short, stop collecting business cards and start cultivating relationships.

Amy Evans, president, Colibri Insurance Services

It’s not about you

Our society today is falsely measuring communication strength by how many “likes” one generates on LinkedIn and Facebook or by how many followers you have. This is an incredibly slippery trend.

First tip: To be successful, tell people not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. It’s a much tougher discussion in the short-term; however, it will always assist in building a much stronger long-term relationship for all the vested stakeholders.

Second tip: Surround yourself with individuals who are passionate, knowledgeable and always learning about our marketplace. You will see your partnership pool change as you eliminate those who are in it for themselves or “just for a job” versus those who have a vested career and care about both sides of the partnership equation.

Lastly, if you are looking for solid partnerships, I encourage you to go on LinkedIn and find someone who’s championing our industry in their communication, rather than themselves, their company or their brand. Those who are moving the needle forward in our industry are focused on their craft and their clients. These are the successful relationships you want to be a part of today.

Trevor J. Garbers, vice president, practice leader, HUB International Limited

Insights and honesty

Insights matter more than relationships. I personally value vendors that provide me with insights to help me run my business much more than I value any particular relationship. Insights can include how I should react to certain crises (economy, COVID, etc.), which products/partners I should work with, and what are the best ways to implement various solutions?

The other thing that I value is vendors that are confident about their “genius zone” and willing to help connect me with others who may be a better fit. I value these connections much more than the vendor that believes they can help me with everything.

Steve Watson, CFO/CHO, Child and Family Support Services, Inc.

Don’t be so serious

COVID has brought unique challenges, but honestly, it’s not the actual business that we need to do that is impacted. I’m “seeing” clients, vendors and colleagues more now than when I was driving to and from meetings all day. What I miss the most though is happenstance! I miss showing up for a meeting early and grabbing coffee or water with my client and hearing what’s going on with their kids, or even in their office. I miss walking to the printer and sneaking into someone’s office for a piece of candy and a hello. And more importantly, I miss seeing smiles.

Every interaction is so intentional, scheduled and serious that we just don’t have the laughs we once had before meetings, in meetings, and after meetings. Zoom Happy Hours have become tiresome. We need to figure out a way to casually interact that will have huge relationship payoffs.

Beth Robertson, SPHR, managing director, Mid-Atlantic Region, Benefits Division, NFP

The golden rule

Treat your partners, solution providers and peers the way you want to be treated. Put yourself in their shoes before asking them for a favor and before responding to them if, and when, things don’t go the way you were hoping or anticipating they would. We’re all human and if you truly trust the team you’re working with, then you’ll never hesitate to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Eric Silverman, founder, Voluntary Disruption

Howdy, partner

The word “partner” is so important. As a benefits consultant, we don’t want to be treated like a line item on a spreadsheet; we are asking prospects and clients to treat this relationship as a partnership.

When you look deeper at the relationship between the consultant and vendors, what are they striving for? The carrier doesn’t just want to be a line item on a spreadsheet, either. This is where it gets tricky, because if the client allows another consultant to “quote” the case, then they will ultimately be able to find a carrier that will write the business for less. So having a partnership with a carrier can put you in jeopardy with your client in the event they decide to let someone else take another look.

All this to say that if consultants spent more time educating their clients and prospects on the value that their agency will bring to the client and painting a picture of what a partnership would/could look like, there would be stronger partnerships among everyone involved. I recently had a meeting with a prospect, and as I asked about the current relationship, he told me that “we switched to this particular broker because he promised to save us money two years ago, which hasn’t happened.”

In my opinion, the employer has some blame here, as well. Employers need to educate themselves more about how health care plans actually work. This employer clearly had no idea that their PEPY spend was well below the national average. Had they known that, they would have known that the broker who said he would save them money was not being realistic.

There are always going to be brokers who sell on price; those brokers will find it difficult to build partnerships. There will always be clients that want to be sold on price, therefore making it difficult for all involved to build a strong partnership.

Which one do you want to be? If you want to be a consultant, you’re going to find yourself working closely with clients that value a partnership, which will allow you to build partnerships with the carriers, as they will have more faith in your approach.

Justin B. White, partner, benefits consultant, cost containment specialist, Brock Insurance Agency

Let’s be clear

My best piece of advice is to ensure values are aligned; if you don’t have that foundation, there will always be friction. And the client has responsibility in the relationship as well, so stop finger-pointing and be clear on your role in achieving your desired outcomes. The best partnerships with vendors and peers have transparency, accountability and trust as core components.

Set the expectation for your vendors and partners to collaborate: “collabetition.” All hands need to be on deck as we navigate through these uncertain times, so if your partners aren’t willing to work together on your behalf, it’s time to get new ones. Do not compromise your values. And that goes both ways.

Pitfalls: “Checking the box” is the biggest pitfall when it comes to building and maintaining relationships with partners, vendors and peers. Be intentional about everything in benefits. Lives and quality of life are at stake. Treat it as such.

Jessica Brooks, CEO, Pittsburgh Business Group on Health

You scratch my back…

Recognize that everyone needs to get something out of it, and get clarity about what that something is. If it’s a peer relationship, it could simply be goodwill. Then the stakes go up from there. Vendors want to be fed continuously. Partnerships have a whole other structure that requires feeding, but also tending. You need to know how much time and what type of energy and engagement are required.

Regardless of which you enter into, be really clear about what you and the other party want and expect from the relationship, because they can fall apart quickly when your goals and intentions aren’t aligned.

Wendy Keneipp, partner and coach, Q4intelligence

Are you listening?

Effective communication is the foundation for any successful relationship, whether it be with a partner, vendor or peer. Effective communication is less about talking and more about listening. People want to know that they are being actively listened to, and that what they say, think and feel matters to you. When a client or a peer comes to you with an issue, question or advice, it means that they trust you enough to share their thoughts with you. Listening to understand, rather than listening to respond, is one of the best ways to foster a relationship, business or otherwise.

Conversely, the lack of effective communication and empathy are the greatest inhibitors of a successful relationship. As a company, your goal is to provide a product or service that fits the needs of the market. If you are so busy talking that you never take the time to listen, you may be missing your mark. You may say to yourself, “What am I doing wrong? Our products are the best in the industry.” And while that may be true, did you take the time to find out if the market needs or wants the products you are offering?

David Hurlock, CEO, PES Enrollments

Worth the wait

Best thing: Finding “birds of a feather.”

In business, we talk with literally thousands of people in the pursuit of finding a few dozen to work with. Along the way, it’s often very clear when we find people with our same mindset. There’s a strong admiration and respect. I know when I’ve found someone “in my tribe.” The value of finding people like this is that we know how rare they are because we sifted through so many other people.

Biggest pitfall: Stopping communication.

Sometimes, we have bad news to deliver. Sometimes we don’t have any answer for a question asked. Sometimes we don’t have a prospect or a referral. Sometimes we have bad news. It’s easy in that phase to just not communicate: not answer the phone, ignore the email, not reach out, etc. Doing so erodes trust. But being a partner means you will still keep the lines of communication open.

Reid Rasmussen, Co-Founder & CEO, Freshbenies